Tobacco manufacture



United States Patent O 3,185,161 TGBACCO MANUFACTURE Boseph Vincent Fiore, 205 teiner St Fairfieid, (loam; Harry Allison Hooper, 23 Mayhew Ave, Larchrnont, N.Y.; Matthew aliee "Monte, 181 Highland Ave, Strat ford, Conn; Raymond Eoseph Moshy, 6 Hyatt ourt, Westport, Conn; and Gtto Kari Schmidt, 29 Giiford St., Springdale, (Jenn.

No Drawing. Griginal application Dec. 5, 1960, Ser. No. 73,562. Divided and this application Sept. 9, 1964, Ser. No. 404,198

4 Claims. (Cl. 131-17) This is a divisional application of Serial No. 73,562, filed December 5, 1960.

This invention relates in general to tobacco processing and, more particularly, to coated reconstituted, tobacco sheet.

Tobacco sheet may be made by depositing a thin layer of an aqueous or other suspension of finely-divided tobacco and a suitable binder on a flat surface. The thin layer is then dried and removed from the surface as tobacco sheet.

If such tobacco sheet is used as a cigar Wrapper, it should exhibit all the features of a natural tobacco leaf cigar wrapper such as good color and sheen, a natural feel, no stickiness in the mouth, no unusual or bitter flavor characteristics, good burn aroma and taste, and a good burn rate, as well as water resistance. Although tobacco sheet yields a better performance than natural leaf on cigar-making machines because it has more uniform physical characteristics than do varied natural tobacco leaves, heretofore some tobacco sheet has lacked the aforementioned desired properties.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide tobacco sheets, which may be used for cigar wrappers and in other smoking articles, which look, feel and taste like natural tobacco leaf.

This and other objects, advantages and features of invention will become apparent from the following description.

The invention relates to coating manufactured tobacco sheets with a thin layer of protective material on either one or both sides. It may be used on sheet-s made by a paper-making process, a process where dust is adhered to a sticky film or where dust is mixed with a binder. When the coating is hydrophobic there is a marked increase in resistance to moisture penetration. When coated on both sides, the sheet is waterproof.

Clearly a coating must have more than useful physical properties. It must not be noxious or toxic in the amounts used. It must have an acceptable taste and appearance and not detract from the tobacco character of a smoking article. Moreover, the coating material and method must be easy and practical to use with delicate tobacco material.

Many tobacco sheets have been made from water soluble adhesives which are limited in use by a tendency to disintegrate in the mouth. Mouth pieces have been used to overcome this and reinforcing tapes have also been used. However, a flexible, non-brittle coating is a far more elegant solution to this problem.

When the sheet is used as a wrapper on a cigar, for example, the coating is preferably used on the surface of the sheet which .is outermost on the smoking article. Both sides of the sheet may be coated when protection against chewing is desired. Also, several successive layers of coating material may be applied to the sheet, and in particular to the area at the month end of a smoking article. Coating may be applied in the course of sheet manufacture or on the finished smoking article.

3,185,161 Patented May 25, 1965 The invention particularly concerns making a moisture resistant tobacco product and includes or comprises forming a sheet of tobacco by mixing a major proportion by weight of finely divided tobacco with a minor proportion by weight of water soluble adhesive, such as a cellulose ether, e.g., ethyl hydroxyethyl cellulose, in aqueous solution and drying the sheet so formed. Thereafter the improvement consists of coating the surface of the dried sheet andfinally drying the coating to produce a thin, flexible surface coating which protects the water soluble adhesive and the tobacco from attack and degradation by external moisture and is compatible with the smoking quality of the tobacco product.

Example 1 0.5 part locust bean gum is added slowly, with agitation, to a 2.5% suspension of 1 part of highly refined sulfite pulp in water and agitation is continued until solution is complete. To the resulting dispersion is added, with stirring, 0.75 part diethylene glycol humect ant, 0.5 part dialdehyde starch wet strength agent (as a 10% solution), 0.7 part diatomaceous earth and 6 parts tobacco dust (screen through mesh) which has been prewetted with water (1 part tobacco to 2 parts Water). Finally, 0.5 part ethyl hydroxyethyl cellulose adhesive are blended in carefully and the total solids adjusted to 10%. The resulting dispersion is cast on'a moving stainless steel belt. The sheet on the belt is dried and then coated with an alcoholic solution of ethyl cellulose and the coating dried.

Since a coating which is hydrophillic will tend to remove moisture from the lips of a smoker and then cause a coated tobacco sheet wrapper to tend to stick to the lips as does a cigarette paper, a hydrophobic coating on the sheet which may be used is ethyl-cellulose. This may be applied in either an alcoholic solution or as an aqueous emulsion.

What is claimed is:

1. In a reconstituted tobacco sheet material made from a major proportion by weight of finely divided tobacco and a minor proportion by weight of a water soluble adhesive material holding together said finely divided tobacco, the improvement consisting of a thin hydrophobic coating on the surface of said sheet material which consists principally of a synthetic water insoluble cellulose polymer.

2. A tobacco sheet material according to claim 1 in which the cellulose polymer is ethyl cellulose.

3. A tobacco sheet material according to claim 1 which is coated on one surface.

4. A tobacco sheet material according to claim 1 which is coated on two surfaces.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 126,698 5/72 Harris 131-12 931,629 8/09 Meyer 131-12 1,671,182 5/28 Eberlein 131-12 2,592,553 4/52 Frankenburg et al. 131-17 XR 2,613,673 10/52 Sartoretto et a1 131-17 2,734,509 2/56 Jurgensen 131-17 2,734,510 2/56 Hungerford et a1 131-17 2,840,085 6/58 Detert 131-140 3,016,907 1/ 62 Rosenberg et al 131-140 ABRAHAM G. STONE, Primary Examiner.

P. RAY CHAPPELL, Examiner.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,185,161 May 25, 1965 Joseph Vincent Fiore et al.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the above numbered patent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should read as corrected below.

In the grant, line 5, after "Connecticut," insert assignors to American Machine (5 Foundry Company, a corporation of New Jersey, lines 14 to 16, for "Joseph Vincent Fiore, Harry Allison Hooper, Matthew Sallee Monte, Raymond Joseph Moshy, and Otto Karl Schmidt, their heirs" read American Machine G Foundry Company, its successors in the heading to the printed specification, lines 3 to 8, for "Joseph Vincent Fiore, 205 Steiner St. Fairfield, Conn'..; Harry Allison Hooper, 23 Mayhew Ave. Larchmont, N. Y. Matthew Sallee Monte, 181 Highland Ave., Stratford, Conn.; Raymond Joseph Moshy, 6 Hyatt Court, Westport, Conn.; and Otto Karl Schmidt, 20 Gil-ford St., Springdale, Conn." read Joseph Vincent Fiore, Fairfield, Conn. Harry Allison Hooper, Larchmont, N. Y., Matthew Sallee Monte, Stratford, Conn. Raymond Joseph Moshy, Westport, Conn.

and Otto Karl Schmidt, Springdale, Conn., assignors to American Machine 6 Foundry Company, a corporation of New Jersey Signed and sealed this 26th day of October 1965.-

(SEAL) Attest:

ERNEST W. SWIDER EDWARD J. BRENNER Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents 

1. IN A RECONSTITUTED TOBACCO SHEET MATERIAL MADE FROM A MAJOR PROPORTION BY WEIGHT OF FINELY DIVIDED TOBACCO AND A MINOR PROPORTION BY WEIGHT OF A WATER SOLUBLE ADHESIVE MATERIAL HOLDING TOGETHER SAID FINELY DIVIDED TOBACCO, THE IMPROVEMENT CONSISTING OF A THIN HYDROPHOBIC COATING ON THE SURFACE OF SAID SHEET MATERIAL WHICH CONSISTS PRICIPALLY OF A SYNTHETIC WATER INSOLUBLE CELLULOSE POLYMER. 